The Anambra State Police Command has taken into custody a 63-year-old woman, Ngozi Muotuanya, from the Awkuzu-Oba area, over allegations of child theft.
Sources revealed that Muotuanya, believed to be a leader in an interstate child trafficking network, allegedly abducted a male child of about one year in Minna, Niger State, and sold him to an unsuspecting buyer in Anambra State.
According to a statement issued on Tuesday by the command’s spokesperson, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, operatives from the Oba Division arrested the suspect on Monday following credible intelligence.
Ikenga confirmed that the command had shared details about the child’s current custodian with the Niger State Police Command to facilitate recovery and reunification with the parents, alongside other necessary procedures.
The statement read in part, “In a decisive move to unravel the mysterious disappearance of children in the state, especially in Oba and its environs, police operatives attached to the Oba Division on August 11, 2025, acting on credible intelligence, apprehended one Ngozi Muotuanya, female, of Awkuzu-Oba, aged 63 years.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that sometime in 2024, the suspect allegedly stole a male child, aged about one year, in Minna, Niger State, and sold him to an unsuspecting member of the public in Anambra State.
“The said suspect later resold the child to another person.
“However, on August 4, 2025, the receiver, upon realising that the child was stolen, returned him to the principal suspect.
“The suspect, in turn, allegedly abandoned the child at an unascertained church in Minna, where he was rescued by the leader of the Igbo Community in Minna.”
Ikenga added that the Niger State Police Command had been notified to aid in recovering the child and reuniting him with his parents.
“The suspect shall be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Awka, for discreet investigation and prosecution,” the statement concluded.
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